Café Culture
The one thing that I truly did not expect of Korea was the cafes. There was a coffee shop on every corner. From Korean chains to locally owned to Starbucks, they truly have it all. Before going to Korea, I did not even like coffee, but now I crave it! During my semester at Yonsei, the classes were still taught fully online. At first, I was a little upset about that, but it gave me an amazing opportunity to explore. I took my classes in a variety of different places, but I generally went to Cafes. On days that I had long classes I would go to a chain coffee shop like Coffee Bean or A Twosome Place. On the days where I just needed to study or take one short class I would always go to the smaller cafes. My favorite café to study in was GaBean. I spent a lot of time with my friends drinking Iced Vanilla Lattes here. It was run by this super sweet lady that gave everyone student discounts.
On the other side of Café Culture are the themed cafes. These can range from Hanok style cafes to K-Pop cafes. Seoul has all kinds of cool places to visit. My two favorite themed cafes were the Harry Potter café, 943 King’s Cross, and the Hanok Style café, Shinidoga. Both of these cafes are located in Hongdae. The Harry Potter Café was five floors of Harry Potter themed floors. The coffee was a lot more expensive than usual but all of the fun inside was totally worth it! On the top floor, they provided the different houses robes and tons of photo opportunities. This was a super fun thing to do on a rainy day. Shinidoga was one of the most beautiful cafes tucked into the streets of Hongdae. This café is not that well known and it absolutely stunning. It is Hanok themed. Hanok is a traditional Korean house. There were two floors, and everything looked like it was made in the 14th Century. In the middle of the café, there was a small river and waterfall that made everything have a truly peaceful feeling. The first time I went I was completely shocked by it. No one ever mentioned it and it was one of the best places I went. If you ever find yourself in Korea, I highly recommend trying to find the small places.
